Built in the 1970's as Westside & Cherry Valley Railway’s No.9, the rail bus ended its career in a collision with a parked Shay locomotive.

The museum purchased the wreck in 1984 for $200. A V-6 engine and transmission were purchased but they mysteriously disappeared one night and the project stalled. The bus sat untouched for the next nineteen years.

The remains were moved to the restoration shop in 2004. Sierra winters had deteriorated the vehicle to the point that only the chassis, differential, and wheels were salvageable.

The restoration crew agreed on a design that closely reflected the original and began their work in 2005. They stripped and painted the frame and installed a 1984 Ford six-cylinder truck engine and manual transmission.

The rail bus is named for Sarah Kidder, president of the NCNGRR from 1901 to 1913.

Engine 3 - Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad

Baldwin Locomotive Works built Engine 3 in 1887. This 4-4-0 type was the last engine purchased new on the NCNGRR. The locomotive served on the railroad until destroyed in a fire at the Grass Valley yards in 1915. The boiler was sold to a mine near Carson City, Nevada in 1926 and was finally returned to Nevada County in 1997, seventy-one years after it left. It is on display in the Museum parking lot.